THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION REPORT. Europe in a period of transition

SOCIAL EUROPE IN ACTION: A NEW IMPORTANCE IN THE PANDEMIC AFTER A LOST DECADE 77 rary direction of the programme, could have a lasting change on future discussions about EU-funded crisis aid. In contrast to the euro crisis, budgetary policy conditio- ning and willingness to lend are not the priorities. Du- ring the euro crisis, the problems experienced by Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and other Member States were not seen as a systemic shortcoming of the currency union but rather as an issue of personal responsibility.The crisis was artificially exacerbated and prolonged as a result of procyclical restraints that were imposed on the basis of inadequate economic policy; the consequences for the labour market and society were devastating. Austerity policies are a key reason for the social divide in Europe, which, as the socioeconomic indicators demonstrate, continues to persist. The investment package seeks to combat any further deepening of this divide and as a result explicitly includes the social dimension. The background for the Commission is, in particular, the very different negative ways in which people were impacted during the crisis. Single parents, children and older people, those in precarious employment and self- employed people, mobile and posted employees, mi- grants, people with disabilities and minorities but also people with poor internet access or few digital skills were more affected than others by the lockdown rules. While some people were able to manage the social distancing, requested by the health experts and demanded by the policymakers, for a long time with the help of digital equipment, many people, particularly those in low-paid service sectors – health, care, urban transport, food pro- duction and delivery, travel, leisure and culture – were either exposed to an increased risk of infection or affec- ted by a loss of income as a result of short-time working or even redundancy.As women are disproportionately re- presented in these sectors and had also taken on a large proportion of the caregiving work throughout the crisis, intensified gender inequalities and traditional gender ste- reotypes (re)emerged during the pandemic. Accordingly, the Commission is emphasising the fight against pover- ty, the enabling of social mobility through poverty-proof minimum wages and the creation of greater income and gender equality in the event of economic shocks and in the face of the upcoming digital and green transition pro- cesses in the economy (European Commission, 2020b). A renewed focus: the action plan for a social Europe The topic of a social Europe gained new importance on the political agenda during the pandemic, thanks in no small part to the foundations laid down during Germany’s and Portugal’s Presidency of the European Council. When the virus hit Europe, the plans presented in 2019 at the start of the new European Commission to establish a European framework for minimum wages, a common unemployment reinsurance scheme and a Euro- pean Child Guarantee for children at risk of poverty and social exclusion were no more ready than the promised action plan for the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, which was announced in 2017 yet thus far had no specific targets, instruments or legally bin- ding basis (Hacker, 2019). The implementation of these projects thus began in the middle of the crisis, starting with the SURE instrument supporting short-time work schemes across Member States, an initiative which can be interpreted as the basis for a European unemployment insurance scheme. The European Commission published a proposal (2020a) for an EU Directive on a minimum wage fra- mework following a consultation process with employer and employee organisations. Although pay is explicitly excluded from supranational rules under Article 153(5) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Commission nevertheless relies on the sup- port of Member States to guarantee fair working con- ditions in accordance with Article 153(1b). This is an area in which it can enact minimum requirements for implementation in the Member States. The stated goal is to be able to narrow the gap between high and low wages and to prevent in-work poverty. The COVID-19 crisis has provided the Commission with additional ar-